Life’s a Beach (Then you grow up!) Part #3

As a continuation from part ll, you all know I was stranded in the middle of know where north of Edmonton, in a little town called Westlock, Alberta, I had to get to a little town called Fawcett where I spent grade 5 – 9 at, and my good friend Rena lived.I drew a line from Edmonton to Vancouver Island just so you could see how far I was from home.

A map of Alberta with the towns underlined.

As I sat on the bench in front of the bus stop I just shook my head at how stupid I had been not checking the bus schedule, but luckily there was another woman sitting next to me with a bunch of suitcases…..I asked where she was headed and to my surprise, not far from where I needed to go!

Her sister was picking her up so she had to pass it on to her if there would be room for me, so it was still a question!  Not long of a wait and an old beat up car that had seen better days showed up and the sisters had a happy joyful reunion then the attention turned to me. Was there room?  There were 5 little kids crammed in the car, ranging in age of about 2 to 7, they squeezed me into the backseat beside the youngest 3, oh joy! Filthy, stinky, noisy little kids with boogers hanging out of their noses!  Oh, well I was grateful for the ride!  About 20 min. into the trip the car started to sputter and make tons of noise and what I thought was smoke, the woman pulled to the side of the Hwy. grabbed a bucket from the trunk and ran down into the ditch where she scooped up as much water as she could, ran back and poured it over the engine!  I had never witnessed anything like this…I was feeling quite doomed! We sat there for about an half hour before we were able to continue our journey! Finally they dropped me off at a Husky Gas/Restaurant in Fawcett..I made it! (I thought).

I found a pay-phone and called Rena’s parents house, her dad answered and I asked if Rena was there, I was not prepared for the answer he told me ” No, she moved to Edmonton with her Fiance’ Robert”, Wholly Crap! what an idiot I was! But her dad would send one of her brothers to come and get me and there was a good likely hood that Rena was showing up that day to pick up some furniture, I kept me fingers crossed!

Once I got to her parents new farm which was way closer to Westlock (I had no idea they had moved) it wasn’t long before Rena and Robert showed up..It was quite a surprise that I came walking out of the house! She couldn’t believe it and neither could I! But….the visit wouldn’t last long….they had to get back to Edmonton right away so I jumped into their truck and off I went back to Edmonton, I had them drop me off at the bus depot! Home ward bound I was, knowing someone would be waiting for me.  My father. I was a week and a half over due and had a big calendar with red lines through all the days I was suppose to be back! All I said to him was “Sorry! I was having a good time!’… he stewed silently.

About 2-3 wk’s later I received a letter from Mitch, my father was sitting beside me in the van when I opened it, out fell a picture! he grabbed it before I could….it was a snap of Mitch sitting (presumably) naked on a weight bench with only Cowboy boots on!  Oh…Shit! “What the “F” was going on there?” All I could say was “Hey I’m not responsible for another person’s actions and what they send me!” He did agree and let it go… Phew!!! Mitch wanted to come and visit me and take me back to Alberta, it freaked me out and I really can’t remember if any more letters came or went… It was the last I heard of him! (I couldn’t find the photo) sorry gals!

So life went back to work and living all my other waking hours down at the beach, Dave was there full time as he was going to College and it was a closer drive then from his home town, we were just friends then and he let me snap a picture of him that early Fall….

He was a hunk!

Not long after, it was October and our birthday, I thought I’d stop in and wish Dave a Happy Birthday, he was a bit frantic I showed up because he had a table for 2 set up with flowers and a bottle of wine and insisting that I couldn’t stay because he had a girl who was showing up any minute, so we had a quick hug and kiss,  as I was leaving I said….”Don’t make Coffee for her!” we both chuckled  and I left…it was the last time I saw Dave!

My old friend Shaun from Cedar,BC (the one guy in grade 10 who a few of us girls hung around with then) started calling…. I had always liked Shaun a lot and the kiss under the carport at my sisters was burned into my mind. He started driving up from Nanaimo to see me on weekends, we fell madly in love.

By then it was 1983 and Shaun and I were an item, I was spending time at X-mas and holidays with him and his family when time permitted but still living with my father in Bowser. I took him to Victoria to meet my Gram and she loved him from the moment she met him….she called him”Cheeky!” which was a compliment in my eye’s because she called me that also!

After one day at work, at my fathers,  I was getting ready to go to bed, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, my father came in and demanded I do something he had asked..I said “No! I don’t want to”! it really doesn’t matter what he had asked  because his response shocked the shit out of me!

Now this is really hard to talk about..it’s the first time I’ve ever really talked about it so please be patient.

The next thing I knew I was punched in the mouth, my lip split open, my arm was twisted behind my back to almost the point of breaking, he slugged me very hard in the stomach a few times and then physically lifted me off the ground and tossed me into the bathtub. I was in shock…and it wasn’t over yet…..he picked up a small can of paint that was in the room and held it over my head,  sticking his face into mine spitting the words “I’m going to  bash your Fuck’n  Head in and Kill You!! and I don’t care if I get thrown in jail for it”!  I panicked and all that could come out of my mouth was ” Why are you doing this too me? I love you!” and I just kept saying it over and over until he relented.  I learned years later that my father was proud he could beat the shit out of someone and not leave incriminating marks….

After he left the bathroom, I got up surveyed the damage, wiped the blood off my face and went to my room. I sat on my bed for about 10 mins.  getting up enough guts to get a sweater on and my slippers, grabbing  my smokes I stormed out of the house past him. I was shaking like a leaf as I sat on the bottom stairs of the house, chain smoking for about 1/2 an hour so  by this time it was about 10:30pm and I still didn’t want to go back in…….then out of the blue a loud voice in my head said ” RUN!!” So I did…. I ran for my life…….losing both my slippers somewhere along the way…..

I’ll continue this story next week in part “4” it will be the final chapter. Thanks for reading, this was the hardest part to write…..